Story of an Author
by RenegadeWarrior
Summary: AU Tsuna isn't quite sure why his new neighbors keep bugging him. He's not a babysitter, he's not a mother, he's not a tutor and he's definitely not looking for a husband. He's an author and he has a deadline to meet dammit! R27, slight All27 and more.
1. Ch 1: The House of Sleeping Beasts

**While browsing through tumblr, I saw a cute picture of Tsuna with four Reborns. Adult Reborn, Teenage Reborn, Child Reborn, and Arcobaleno Baby Reborn. Then I wanted to make an R27 fic and this was born. **

**Summary: AU Tsuna isn't quite sure why his new neighbors keep bugging him. He's not a babysitter, he's not a mother, he's not a tutor and he's definitely not looking for a husband. He's an author and he has a deadline to meet dammit! R27, slight All27 and more. Drabble series.**

**Warnings: AU, OOC, MxM, slight crack**

**I don't own anything!**

**Chapter 1: The House of Sleeping Beasts**

* * *

A young woman, smartly dressed with her dark hair tied back into a professional bun, sighed as she unlocked and stepped into the simple two story house. She considered calling out a greeting, but discarded that thought as she knew that more likely than not she wouldn't be getting a reply back.

It was just like most of the houses in Namimori, with three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen, and all the other rooms that a small family might need.

Only one person actually lived in this four person home, but the owner had a constant stream of visitors nearly every day, so it wasn't unusual for the other rooms to be occupied. In fact, several pairs of shoes of all different shapes and sizes were littering the front hall. Kurokawa Hana added hers to the side neatly.

Bypassing the kitchen, especially cluttered and dirty for a room that probably hadn't been stepped into by the resident owner for two weeks now, and the living room, she didn't even pause at the sight of a long lean body stretched out on an even longer-obviously custom ordered-couch. A blanket carefully tucked around it. So Yamamoto Takeshi was here.

A slightly shorter, but no less smaller, form was snoring away on the smaller couch across from the first one. The blanket on this one was crumpled and half lying on the ground and the figure in question was just a few inches shy of falling off himself. Of course her boyfriend, Sasagawa Ryohei, was there as well. Odds were, if he didn't make it home for night, he would be here.

Upstairs, the master bedroom was cracked open. Two more figures could be seen sleeping back to back on top of the covers. Another blanket had been tossed over them. Rokudo Mukuro and his stepsister Dokuro Chrome. No surprise there either. These two in particular tended to be semi-permanent residents of the house even though they had their own place back in Kokuyo.

She did raise a brow at the closed guest room door though. A purple wooden door hanger hung off the silver knob. On it was a yellow bird with a speech bubble that said 'Do not Disturb' in large letters. So Hibari Kyoya was here? That bolded well. Usually that person wouldn't stay under the same roof as Rokudo Mukuro, but if something-or _someone_- needed them to cooperate, they'd put aside their rivalry and work together for a while. Somewhat. Well, only one person could make them tolerate each other long enough to do anything really.

The final door was also closed, but Hana pushed it open only to find that the person who should have been occupying the only bed wasn't. Instead Gokudera Hayato and Bovino Lambo were sprawled on top of it and each other. Tsuna's self-proclaimed right-hand man and adoptive sibling respectively. Their blanket and pillows had been completely kicked off onto the floor.

Her eye twitched. Where the hell was Sawada Tsunayoshi? The guy who actually owned the place and was supposedly the only one who lived here.

Now she had to hunt down the elusive brunet. This was not what Hana had wanted to spend her morning-and possibly the rest of her day, or worst case scenario, week-doing.

* * *

**Next time: Hana searches for Tsuna.**


	2. Ch 2: Searching for Tsuna

**Thank you for the love people! You get an early update because this was mostly finished before I posted the first chapter. To clarify some things, only the Adult Reborn will be with Tsuna. **

**For anyone who wants to see the picture that inspired this, type in "R27 tumblr" in google. It should be the first result. It's pretty much all the posts that have been tagged with R27. Then scroll down until you find it. This site is **_**glorious**_**. Please be aware that you may become subject to heart palpitations, sweatiness, delusions, and bouts of uncontrollable squeeing and fangirl/boying.**

**This ended up being more than twice as long as the last chapter, but I couldn't find a place to end it sooner. So much for being a drabble series.**

**Chapter 2: Searching for Tsuna**

* * *

Hana was pretty sure that Tsuna was still alive. It was the reason all these volatile people were gathered here under one roof after all. They would ensure that he stayed alive even if they had to tie him down and force feed him. But she hadn't heard a peep from anyone in this house in three days. Not even Ryohei had responded to her or Kyoko for more than a few minutes in that entire time and it was only through the phone.

Tsuna should have crashed as soon as his manic muse had worn off and he wouldn't be of any use to anyone for a few days, but she needed to make sure that he had the latest chapters ready for her. They were already behind by nearly two months, but if he couldn't think of anything, then no one could make him to write anything that he didn't want to. God forbid anyone try to force a mediocre story out of Sawada though. That was just asking for trouble.

Now. Where could Sawada be? Some place ridiculous possibly. He tended to end up in odd places after leaving-what everyone exasperatedly called- his Dying Will mode. Sometimes, he was curled up on top of his washing and drying machines or behind a couch or-if he was outside-in a tree or flowerbed. Every once in a while he would wake up on his roof in his boxers and Yamamoto and Gokudera would have to go up and bring him down along with the writing utensils stored in the gutter and…

Dear god. The chapter she had been after him for one time had been finger-painted out on his roof shingles in glow-in-the-dark paint. Another time he had written out an entire story in chalk on an entire sidewalk block. Mukuro and Chrome had obviously joined in based on the elaborate chalk drawings that accompanied it. The entire section had to be cordoned off and pictures were taken before it was erased by the elements outside.

No need to waste it as any story Tsuna wrote came out to be a wonderful story. They had made a great deal of money by making it into a book with the pictures in place of text. Unfortunately, it had also started a 'chalk story' phase and Hibari was spitting mad about the consequent defacement of his precious Namimori.

Even drunk or high people would be hard pressed to match the actions of a Dying Will Tsuna.

Well…it should be fine. If everyone was here like this, they would keep him supplied with paper and pens-for some reason he never typed anything in Dying Will mode-so that he hopefully wouldn't resort to 'other' mediums.

She decided to try his room first. In his closet. Under his bed. In the bathrooms. The laundry room, the living room, the kitchen pantry, behind the couches, under Mukuro and Chrome's bed, outside in the gardens, the rooftops, the tree tops…at least there weren't any signs of writing on the walls or floors.

The only room left was that closed-and most likely locked-door that even she wasn't stupid enough to knock on. But dammit. She needed those chapters and she needed them last month!

No one had even twitched at the sounds of her search and she had no idea when they would wake up as it was clear that everyone was exhausted and dead to the world. Well, hopefully Hibari would be too. He had no qualms about hitting a woman, but he held some respect for her and would most likely not do anything to her if she was quiet and quick about it.

Just as Hana was about to knock, the door swung open and a bleary eyed Hibari stood before her in a rumpled black yukata. He continued to stare blankly for a few moments and she quickly moved out of the way. The dark haired man-teen really- yawned and shuffled to the bathroom without a word leaving the bedroom door open.

That was as good as an actual spoken invitation and she quickly made her way in. Well, Sawada wasn't under Hibari's bed either, but the only other place in the house that he could be was this closet. If he wasn't, she'd have to wake everyone up to do a neighborhood-possibly city-wide search. The most recent heart stopping incident was still fresh on her mind. Tsuna had been sleeping on the biggest rock in the lion pen of the local zoo. How or why he ended up there no one knew, but lazily sunning themselves around him were the lions who apparently decided that they liked the young naked man-that had suddenly appeared in their midst in the middle of the night-enough to not bother him. Sadly, no one else was quite so understanding or accepting of that situation.

Then there was the time he had ended up at a park under a huge sakura tree, wearing a flowery pink kimono with sticks, stones, and sakura petals artfully arranged on the grass before him to make a story in poem form. That was heart-stopping for an entirely different reason.

Ever the business woman, she had had high quality pictures printed and sold them to the man's family and friends. Even now, she was sure that each person in this household still had more than a few copies floating around somewhere in a private place. Hibari had ended up ordering the most. Her discretion, refusal to be cowed, and no nonsense manner of dealing with the transactions had given her some form of respect from the temperamental teen. It was probably why he generally left her alone anyways.

Well, it was now or never. With a sense of trepidation, Hana slid open the closet door.

Stacks of notebooks, paper pads and folders were neatly arranged and labeled before her in plastic boxes. Sheets of loose leaf sorted and bound together and no sign of paper towels or other such materials in sight. To the side, several flash drives with numbers on them sat on a stack of paper-clipped printer paper. On it were the names of the various stories on each one next to a corresponding number.

Ah. So Tsuna had gone from 'Dying Will' mode to 'Hyper Dying Will'. Shame that he couldn't just stay in HDW mode, but whatever. Whenever he managed to reach that stage, things ran smoothly for almost everyone and work was completed quickly and efficiently. A shame that he had to go through that aggravating Dying Will mode first to reach it.

Hana carefully placed the flash drives in her pocket and skimmed over the first sheet. **Kurokawa Hana **was printed out in bold letters at the top. Under it was Flames of Resolution: Lightning Strike with a bulleted list. Chapters 5 to 27 and a large bold ***COMPLETE*** at the bottom.

She couldn't help but quirk her lips at that. Despite the problems Tsuna's special _episodes_ tended to cause, no one could deny their usefulness at times. The time expected for this book's completion was at least another eight months. Now she had an entire book to check over and edit, but this still freed up a substantial amount of time for her to do other things.

The others in her company may have pitied her for having to deal with the insanity and trouble that came from associating with the brunet, but the results couldn't be denied. Not to mention the fact that she got first dibs to his work seeing as she was one of his self-appointed editors. The others being Kyoko and Haru to a degree.

For now though, she had to find said brunet. There was only one place left in the house. Crouching down, the woman sighed in exasperation even as she smiled fondly at the sleeping brunet.

Curled up in a futon was a snoozing Tsuna under the only shelf in the closet. He was hugging a large lion plushie worn out with love and age. Baby blue, cloud-and-rainbow-printed pajamas only served to make the rather short brunet seem even younger and more innocent than he normally did.

Hana pulled out her incredibly expensive digital camera from her messenger bag. An investment that she had never regretted despite never having an interest in photography before meeting Sawada.

The payoff was well worth it. A book completed way ahead of time. More possible stories for future publications. And now, the oodles of cash that she would squeeze out of Sawada's friends-for all the headaches they always caused her-from the pictures she was about to take.

*SNAP*

Well worth it indeed.

* * *

**The Dying Will and Hyper Dying Will thing will be explained in more detail later, but Tsuna isn't bursting into flames. No magical fire and box animals here…at least not in real life. Leaving Tsuna alone in DW mode can be disastrous. This is why everyone is here for the duration of it. **

**Tsuna isn't half mad himself(most of the time), but he can drive other people nuts. **

**There are plenty of pictures showing Tsuna in a kimono, but I'd like to see fanart of a naked sleeping Tsuna surrounded by lions now. O3O **

**Next time: Hana and Tsuna start catching up and the 'beasts' begin to stir from their slumber.**


	3. Ch 3: Barring Beans, Bookshelves, and Bu

**I've got a beta now! Thank you Tsumugi Hitomi! And thank you to all the readers who enjoy this fic!**

**For more R27 specific tumblrs check out ** **fuckyeahr27(_dot_ )tumblr(_dot_)com and r27comics(_dot_)tumblr(_dot_)com. **

**These chapters just keep getting longer and longer. This was supposed to be a drabble series dammit.**

**Ages:**

**Tsuna-25**

**Gokudera, Yamamoto, Hana-26**

**Ryohei-27**

**Mukuro-20**

**Chrome-19**

**Hibari-17**

**Fuuta-14**

**I-Pin, Lambo-12**

**Chapter 3: Barring Beans, Bookshelves, and Business. Serious Business.**

* * *

"He's in your closet."

Those were the words that greeted a sleepy Hibari as he came back into the room, not looking as refreshed as he probably should have.

He simply blinked back at her for a moment before making his way back to the bed, which he crashed onto face down.

Hibari gave a grunt of acknowledgement into his pillow.

"Sawada-and everyone else in this household for that matter-is in no condition to cook anything. His mother is out of town, Kyoko's still recovering from a cold, and Haru's booked all day long."

The black-haired teen's only response was to pull the covers over himself.

"I've called for catering. They'll be here at 3:30 in the afternoon. It's 10 am right now. Anything else?"

"Wake me up and I'll bite you to death."

Hana rolled her eyes and hefted up the last box out to be brought downstairs. She debated saying something along the lines of how-many-times-have-you-said-that-but-you-still-ha ven't-done-it, but decided not to bother as she quietly shut the door behind her.

A small yellow bird flew in through the open window after she left.

"Hibari. Hibari." He trilled.

With a tired sigh, Hibari reached out for a pad of paper and pen-items that sat in every room in the house- and scrawled out something without looking. He placed it back on the end table next to the bed.

"Wake me at this time." He instructed and promptly fell asleep.

Hibird hopped onto the pad and stared at the **3:00 PM **on the paper then at the red **10:02 AM** of the digital clock before him.

* * *

It was nearly 2 o'clock when Tsuna, still in his rainbow and cloud printed pajamas, shuffled downstairs and slumped into a chair across from Hana.

"Afternoon. Coffee's in the pot."

Tsuna wrinkled his nose.

"I don't even like coffee. You know that."

"You need it after what you just pulled. _You know that_. So suck it up, make yourself a cup and then make me another one, because that weird-ass crap coffee maker only ever makes decent coffee for you."

With a sigh, Tsuna got up and dumped the half empty pot down the drain. Then he cleaned it out and proceeded to pull out a few bags of types of coffee beans.

"Don't take your frustrations out on Yoshi-kun. You're supposed to blend the different beans that I have. The one you used wasn't meant for making a full pot. This one's more for the aftertaste if you blend it with this one and a pinch of this one." He held up two other small bags.

"And how was I supposed to know that? And why do you always use Yoshi-kun? I know you have others."

"I've got a few recipe binders just for different types of coffee blends alone and Yoshi-kun works just fine." He gave the pink and silver coffee maker a fond pat then headed for a bookshelf at the edge of the kitchen and rifled through the various recipe books until he pulled out one with what looked like graffiti adorning the covers. This was passed to Hana who flipped open the laminated cover to skim through the recipes.

"My ex-boss made this. Well, he decorated the covers and my co-worker, Neku-kun, designed a few more for me. Remember how I once mentioned that I had a part time job when I was in in college? Mr. H, the owner, really likes beans and so he opened up a café selling overpriced coffee."

Hana raised a brow.

"Only you Sawada would be to find much less enjoy the company of a ridiculous employer."

"Hey! He's a great boss. Or was a great boss until I quit. He taught me lots of things about beans." She vaguely recalled the slightly scruffy laidback café owner, Tsuna's orange-haired coworker, and all of said co-workers colorful friends. Well, they had nothing on the nutjobs Tsuna tended to attract anyways.

"So as soon as you were done learning about Shakespearean literature you went to learn about beans…"

Tsuna flushed a little. "Well…I didn't just learn about beans. I learned how to prepare espresso and lattes and mochas and I ended up expanding his menu because I knew how to bake and cook more than him and I just…yeah." He sighed, but kept on measuring out several dark beans into different bowls. "I learned about beans. And coffee. And he was nice enough to let me experiment with them to come up with different flavors. He even made that book for me so I could keep track of all my creations."

"Are you talking about beans Tsuna? Hey, Hana."

"Good morning Takeshi and we're talking about my job at WildKat."

"It's two in the afternoon Sawada. Yamamoto."

She nodded at him as he plopped himself onto another seat. "We're talking about his strange employer along with the fact that Tsuna knows how to prepare a ridiculous variety of coffee blends even though he doesn't like coffee."

"It's not my fault I'm allergic." Grumbled the brunet as his grinders (where did those things even come from?) whirled to life.

"You don't even show any reactions when you drink it."

"Maybe. But that's what my allergy test results said and I've never been able to really get into it either. It doesn't bother me, but I don't really like it unless it's got lots of sugar and milk."

"So beans."

Tsuna sighed. "Yes Takeshi. We're talking beans." He moved to a different cabinet across the kitchen and pulled out a ceramic tea set along with a canister of green tea leaves. They were kept separate so that no essence of coffee would taint the leaves. Tsuna was pretty sure they wouldn't with how tightly everything was sealed, but better safe than sorry. Kyoya would have a fit if his tea tasted like coffee.

"Hahaha. That's great. We sure had some good times back then didn't we?"

"What the hell are you going on about now?" Gokudera grumbled as he made his way down and dropped into the seat next to his friend.

"Beans Hayato. Beans."

Gokudera snorted at Yamamoto's grin and rolled his eyes but he wasn't able to hide the fond smile as he recalled their college days. "WildKat and its resident bean-freak huh?" Seriously. She needed to get the story behind this Mr. H and Tsuna's miraculous brewing skills. All she knew was that he made bi-monthly trips back to Shibuya to get certain brands of beans, because apparently Mr. H. stocked every kind imaginable.

He turned to Tsuna with a more positive greeting.

"Afternoon Jyuudaime! Do you need any help?"

"Ah. That's alright. I'm almost done." Hana stared as she looked up from perusing the binder. When the hell did Sawada get four more coffee machines? She had only found ever been able to find three. For that matter, why did he even have so many bags of coffee beans in the first place? Oh. Right. Even if he didn't drink it that often, his visitors often did. Ah forget it. As long as she got good coffee for free, she didn't care. She wasn't going to waste her time pondering the mysteries of Sawada Tsunayoshi or she'd never be able to stop.

Tsuna turned on the exhaust fan, the ceiling fan and another tabletop fan that he positioned at the open kitchen window . Airing out as much of the smell of brewing coffee as he could, while simultaneously pulling out all sorts of mugs.

"Hana. Try this one. Recipe #87. A Brazilian Santos blend. I've added a touch of maple syrup and milk to it."

Taking a sip from her hand-painted floral patterned black mug-a birthday gift from Chrome-she closed her eyes and sighed. Perfect as always. Sometimes, she considered pressing Sawada into starting a coffee house, but he would always refuse saying that his calling was writing with a gentle but sad look. After almost three years, that incident still hovered over them all, but resilient as always Tsuna was the one to bounce back first. As for everyone else…she banished thoughts of the past from her mind. Now wasn't the time to reminisce about those sorts of things. Now was the time to enjoy these moments of peace with a heavenly cup of coffee.

"Your usual Takeshi, Hayato."

A blue baseball mug and a red and black skull themed mug touched gently tapped the table in front of the two men who had both put their heads down.

"Thanks Tsuna. Mmmm. Brew #80. Awesome as always."

"That's not coffee you baseball-freak. That's coffee-flavored milk. _This_ is coffee."

With that Gokudera took a sip of Tsuna's Brew #59 with a dash of Almond syrup.

Ryohei practically bounced into the kitchen with loud greetings for everyone and a hug for Hana, accepting his boxing ring mug. Then Mukuro and Chrome arrived and Tsuna plonked down a chocolate and a vanilla flavored cup in front of their respective owners. Lambo got his chocolate milk and finally Hibari made his way down with Hibird on his shoulder. His green tea was gently set in front of him along with a shallow dish of water for Hibird. Having served everyone else, Tsuna sat down with his orange mug and took a sip of his own coffee, Brew #27, a Hawaiian Kona blend.

He estimated that he would have about fifteen more minutes of peace before everyone woke up enough to remember who they were sitting next to.

* * *

With everyone bribed with the promises of more free food and drinks in the future if they could just keep quiet long enough, Tsuna and Hana got down to work in the living room.

"The stories in this box are all the ones that we have to wait for Haru to sort. For her birthday present, she gets first pick on which stories she wants to turn into plays and you can negotiate with her over her choices as well as the ones you want to turn into books."

Then they'd have to wait for their mysterious boss, Shinja-san, as well. The greedy figure who actually owned multiple companies, but had chosen to take a hand in personally being the head of every publication department that Tsuna just so happened to work for. He (or she, no one was really sure, but everyone referred to Shinja-san as a he) was usually away dealing with other things or counting money and Hana-his proxy-would often be sent to help Tsuna in his place. For some reason, the man had taken an interest in Tsuna, citing that the brunet was brimming with potential for money-making opportunities.

There were bound to be intense battles in the future if Haru and Shinja-san both ended up wanting to use the same story. Tsuna didn't see why they couldn't just let Haru make plays out of his published stories, as long as she had his permission, which she did, but the company still claimed rights to it. This often led to fights, but while Shinja-san may have been the person who personally approved his paychecks, Haru was his friend way before he ever even considered making a living as a writer.

"Sawada. What's this one about? You've got it bolded in bright purple ink."

'The Parallels of a boy Named Mare'

"Ah! It's a collection of all the stories I've ever written for my pen pal in Italy. In a few months, it'll be the sixteenth anniversary of our friendship. That's why I wanted to give them to him as a present."

Hana quirked a brow. "You've been writing stories to that Mashimare guy for sixteen years? Shinja-san is going to have a fit if he finds out that you've been holding out on him."

"I've only been writing stories to him for fourteen years. I promised that once I had written him a hundred stories, I'd have them bound and printed and give him an entire book. And I wouldn't even be working for Shinja-san if it weren't for him. He was the one who encouraged me to keep writing in the first place. I don't want these published for the public. These are just for my first friend. He's even scanned and sent me the early stories way back when I was using crayon to write them out."

Hana just shook her head. "Fine. I'll see what I can do. Anything else?"

"Can Lightning Strike be released on May twenty-eighth?"

"That's in less than three months Sawada."

"Yeah, but it for Lambo's birthday. That's his present. He's the inspiration for this one after all. I've even got the dedication page written out."

"You're pushing it. Even if you've finished the entire thing, I've still got to go over this. Then Shinja-san's going to have to go over it. Mukuro and Chrome need to design the covers which also have to be selected and approved. Not to mention the crap ton of other things that go into releasing this."

"Already did." Mukuro's head popped through the open glass door. Hana and Tsuna could see I-Pin and Fuuta, who had gone to help out Haru for the last two days and returned just in time for lunch, playing with Lambo and Chrome in the backyard. "The little cow even picked it himself."

"Wasn't this supposed to be a surprise?"

Tsuna answered "No." at the same time as Mukuro's reply.

"What could be a better present than having a hand in the creation of your favorite series?"

"Fine. Fine. I'll handle this too. I may not be able to actually get the book released on that date, but I should be able to get you the first printed copy by then. You'll have it in time for his birthday." She pulled out her tablet and started to take down notes. "So any other special requests?"

"Nope. That's about it. Everything else already has instructions with it. The next installment of the Metal Pets series is done. Mukuro and Chrome have finished the pictures for it and we have the page layouts designed already."

"You know they're talking about getting permission to turn it into an anime?" asked Mukuro as he slid into the seat next to Tsuna.

Tsuna choked in surprise. "Are you serious?!"

"Where did you hear that from?"

"Kufufufu. I have my sources." Hana was about to ask, but then realized that she didn't want to know.

Metal Pets. It was a popular children series about the adventures of various pets who were actually homunculus. They were fused with some sort of metal and lived out their lives together with their owners who had each given up something important to be able to keep their pet. Their owners' faces were never shown, but the love they showed when they interacted with the pets was clear to see anyways. Chromium Cat was the protagonist, although she was usually just called Chrome, but the series actually followed Chrome's fellow homunculus as well, such as Platinum Platypus, Gold Gecko, Copper Chinchilla, Silver Swan, Aluminum Anteater, Titanium Turtle and more.

Hana decided to log the rumor under Potential Offers and so they continued to discuss and sort through the multitudes of stories that Tsuna had poured everything he had into creating over the last three weeks.

"Have I ever told you how much I love your Hyper Dying Will mode?" she asked as she looked at the nicely sorted lists of stories under the various names that Tsuna went by. In fact, none of Tsuna's works had ever been published under his true name. Anonymity was something that he preferred to maintain and even if there had been speculations by fans that some series were written by the same person, no one could ever prove it. Shinja-san was very good at keeping Tsuna-and Mukuro and Chrome for that matter-out of the public eye even as their work was marketed and sold around the world.

"Only every time you see the results from it."

"Well, I for one don't." Mukuro sighed tiredly. "You're such a slave driver, not at all like your usual easily flustered cute self, and the worst part is that no one even thinks about disobeying after we've spent the last few days chasing your Dying Will self around town. Once it's over with, no one has the energy to do anything."

"That's the other reason I love it so much." The only woman in their trio smirked as she took another sip from her coffee. "I don't have to worry about the damage you monkeys are likely to cause for a few more days."

"What was that woman!"

"You heard me!" Hana shot back at Gokudera's shout.

"Ah! You didn't have to get the laundry Hayato."

"Nonsense! You're busy right now. Washing your clothes is no problem at all Jyuudaime!"

Before Tsuna could protest, Hayato had slipped outside and was yelling at Lambo to help him fold the laundry as he was the one who was mostly responsible for starting the juice war an hour ago. Tsuna had no idea where all the juice came from because he was positive that he didn't have any this morning. Nor was he surprised that he was the only one who ended up soaked head to toe in what smelled like a mixture of pineapple juice, coconut oil and grape jelly drink.

Kyoya had left to get his updates from his Disciplinary Committee that he had missed over the last few weeks, but Tsuna knew that he'd be back in a heartbeat if he was needed. He was also incredibly grateful that the teen had left shortly after the fight started or else he'd be dealing with more than just sticky clothing. Ryohei had gone back to check on his gym and bring some soup for Kyoko and Takeshi had left to reassure his father that, yes, Tsuna (and everyone else) was still alive and, no, they were pretty sure that Tsuna wasn't about to have another burst of inspiration (and consequently go back into Dying Will Mode) anytime soon.

"Oh!" Tsuna smacked a fist into his palm. "I just remembered. I need new bookshelves."

Hana stopped typing to look at him. "Do you even have any more room?" The wall to wall shelves Tsuna's study came to mind. The living room they were sitting in had at least six, leaving spaces in between for the glass door that led to the back yard, the TV, and the doorways. The kitchen-cum-dining room had a few too. An entire wall of the guest room and master bedroom was filled as well. Tsuna's own room was packed with them. Even the bathrooms had covered magazine-filled shelves for people-mostly Lambo-to read as they did their business.

"Course I do. But I can just get some short ones and stack them on the other short ones I have."

She thought of how most of the shelves were already just high enough for him to barely reach. "Better get a stepstool while you're at it."

"Are you implying that Jyuudaime is short?!"

"No. I'm outright saying that he is."

"Jyuudaime's not short! He's just-just…" Gokudera floundered as he tried to think of a suitably less offensive (in his head) term for Tsuna's height, or lack of.

"Vertically challenged?" offered Mukuro as he tried to keep himself from cracking up. "Little? Tiny? Petite? Bantam? Undersized? Diminutive? Compact? Curtailed of his fair proportion? Ru-"

Tsuna snatched the last double chocolate chip cookie from the nearly forgotten plate at his side and shoved it into Mukuro's mouth, nearly choking his pineapple haired friend.

"It's okay Hayato. I know I'm short, but at least I should still be able to reach my books without needing a stool."

"Yet." Before Gokudera could snap out a retort to defend Tsuna from Hana's truthful remarks, a ringing sound was heard.

"Ah! The cupcakes! I'll be right back!" Tsuna dashed back into the kitchen and Lambo, Fuuta and I-Pin followed behind as soon as they heard the timer go off.

"Now that he's out of the way, let's get down to the real business."

At Hana's no nonsense tone, Gokudera settled down in his seat. Mukuro managed to swallow his cookie and Chrome, having followed Tsuna's adoptive siblings in, took Tsuna's previous place.

"I found him on the bottom shelf of the guest room closet. You all saw his pajamas this morning before you soaked it in juice."

She opened a folder on her tablet, having already transferred several of the pictures from this morning onto it and handed it over to her eager audience.

"The kids should keep him busy for another twenty minutes. I've now got enough prints of Tsuna in different sleepwear and I'm planning on having them printed into photo books. Here are the ones from this morning. We can have a meeting sometime this week and you all can vote for which pictures you want in it. Including the naked Lion's Rock one." She added as she saw Mukuro opening his mouth. "And the Moonlight Sonata and the Gothic Spiral one." Gokudera and Chrome snapped their mouths shut.

"This will be the next book in The Best of Sawada Tsunayoshi series. The tentative title is Volume 19: The Sleeping Beauty. Any complaints?"

As their engrossed faces turned to delight, Hana could barely stop the smirk from forming on her face.

Being a lawyer may have been her dream career, but working as Tsuna's editor was fine too. She was making more money than she could have ever earned otherwise, and she was having much more fun too. She never regretted it even if her family still shook their heads in puzzlement whenever they remembered the girl whose main goal in life was to marry a rich man.

"None? Good."

The tablet was reluctantly returned just in time as Tsuna was calling everyone into the kitchen for freshly baked cupcakes.

Mmm. Free food. Free drinks. And lots and lots of money.

_It's good to be me._

* * *

"By the way, Sawada. You have new neighbors."

"What?"

"They moved in a week ago, but you were too busy to notice."

"Ah. I guess I'll have to greet them soon. Do you think they'll like cupcakes?"

* * *

**I've been on a younger Hibari binge, but he's a teen and younger than Tsuna here for a plot point. He was older than Tsuna in the original outline for this though.**

**Hana makes crappy coffee and Tsuna is now an expert brewer thanks to his time working for Mr. H. **

**Mashimaro-The strange rabbit-like creature whose back side resembles a dog. Its name is the Japanese pronunciation for Marshmallow. The nickname 'Mashimare' will be explained later.**

**Shinja-Sacred Snake. Guess who **_**coincidently **_**owns all the companies that just happen to publish Tsuna's books.**

**Yes, Tsuna worked as a part timer at the WildKat from TWEWY when he was in college. Dear god I love that game. I may just need to make a prequel about Tsuna's college days. And I spent a third of this chapter talking about coffee beans when I don't even drink coffee. Tsuna's apathy for coffee is based on my own experience, because yes, it is possible for people to be allergic to it. I could never get into it no matter what type I drank even if it didn't bother me so in the end I just went back to my tea. This wasn't meant to be a cross over, it just wrote itself.**

**I have folders bookmarked specifically for research topics for different fics. At least 13 sites for this chapter alone involve the types and brewing of coffee. However, I'm making these blends up as I go. Please do not take these seriously unless you really feel like experimenting.**

**Next time: Tsuna finally meets Reborn! One of them anyways.**


	4. Ch 4: The Toddler With the Pigeon Hat

**Finally! The first Reborn! For those looking for romance, I'm sorry that this story is so slow going on that aspect. Hana's point of view is over for now. The fun *fluff* starts this chapter. The second half will be dialogue heavy.**

**I've also realized that as a result of this chapter, the story summary probably needs to be changed.**

**Beta'd by Tsumugi Hitomi. **

**Chapter 4: The Toddler With the Pigeon Hat**

* * *

Three days had passed since his house had been emptied of guests and Tsuna was finally feeling rested. His body no longer ached from the strenuous activity he had put it through and he was glad that his friends were physically capable of keeping up with him during these times.

Three weeks was much longer than normal for his Dying Will mode to last, but so much work had been piling up on him lately causing his stress levels to peak. When his vacationing muse finally came back, it was with a bang. Not unlike a bursting dam. In fact, he remembered that day quite clearly.

The sky was dark and cloudy with the growling rumble of thunder urging everyone to find shelter soon. Just as he was crossing a bridge, a blinding flash of lightning lit the darkened area, quickly followed by a crack of thunder and Tsuna vaguely recalled jumping off the bridge into the river below. He then swam to the bank, snatching up a sharp stone as he dragged himself out of the water, and proceeded to scratch out a few paragraphs onto the grimy stone walls of the bridge.

A passing DC member on the way home from patrol had watched with alarm as the brunet jumped and quickly alerted his fellow members. He was a fairly new recruit who had moved to Namimori not too long ago, so while he had heard of Tsuna and seen some pictures so that he knew who not to antagonize-no one was to mess with Hibari Kyoya's favorite person-, he had never actually seen Tsuna's Dying Will mode until that day. Tsuna made sure to make the poor boy a huge batch of homemade treats as compensation for the mental scarring. He also did his best to keep Kyoya from remembering how the boy had incited everyone into a panic at his call.

"_Code 27! I repeat Code 27! Danger Level Rank-SSS! Sawada-san just jumped off a bridge! I think he's trying to commit suicide!" _

Hibari and Ryohei arrived at the same time and had had to manhandle him away from his wall scratching and into a van to bring him home, all the while trying to make sure that he had some sort of stationary and writing utensil so they wouldn't have to deal with him using his rock to scratch the next sentence onto the inside of the van. By the time they arrived at his house, the walls and seats were plastered with several short stories written on post-it notes. Kusakabe just sighed when Tsuna had managed to attach five to his pompadour before Hibari managed to yank him back so that the brunet wouldn't distract their driver from the horrendous road conditions. Ryohei took it in good stride when Tsuna started writing on the back of his T-shirt as he had run out of paper. Because, God forbid if Tsuna started writing on the upholstery with permanent marker.

Ryohei was also the only one brave-or stupid-enough to tell Hibari that he had an entire line of them on his butt after getting out of the van. Only Tsuna's attempts to attack the white painted sides of the van with a Sharpie-and then the outer walls of his house-in the pouring rain had saved the boxer from the business ends of the teen's tonfas. (Hibari would later make sure that every vehicle under the DC's control was stocked with a full box of pens and notepads. He also developed a near invisible twitch whenever he saw a post-it note or any permanent marker. It would take another three months for it to stop.)

Well…Tsuna-and everyone else-could finally relax now. There was nothing else that urgently needed his attention at the moment so he had decided to take a walk around town.

Hana had mentioned that he had new neighbors, but he hadn't seen or heard who they were yet. No one had even told him where they lived and the matter had slipped from his mind. The neighbors he had, besides Takeshi and Hayato, had mixed reactions to Tsuna. He was generally tolerated and liked, but most of them tended to avoid that 'Crazy Sawada Kid' (he may have still been short, but he was an adult now!) during his more energetic phases, or if they remembered him from his younger days, 'Streaker-Tsuna'.

The unfortunate nickname came from back before his Dying Will mode had a name and people just said 'Sawada's having a fit again.' When he used to charge ahead recklessly, his clothes would often get caught on things and torn or just outright destroyed and he wouldn't even notice that he was no longer clothed as he ran through the streets or wherever else his body decided to take him. When they were little, Hayato used to believe that UMA's would temporarily take control of his body to help him accomplish his tasks, but didn't understand human customs and limitations which was why they didn't realize that they were causing so much trouble for Tsuna when they did. He was so excited at the possibility that his friend was loved by aliens.

Somehow Tsuna had an inkling of a suspicion that Hayato still believed it even though he knew better now. He sometimes wondered if it would have been better to have that nickname Dame-Tsuna instead, but somehow Streaker-Tsuna became his title and…nonono. He was fine with Streaker-Tsuna. Well. Not really, but didn't this all start because he didn't want to be Dame-Tsuna?

Shaking his head to clear the old memories away, he blinked as a pigeon stared back at him. There was a huge grey pigeon with shiny black eyes staring right into his face from a small tree shrub. Strange. Animals usually came to Kyoya like this, not him. The pigeon wasn't moving. In fact, it was still staring unblinkingly into his eyes and was seriously starting to creep him out. He was about to slowly back away when he took a second look.

Actually…those eyes looked more like glass eyes than actual eyes. He should know after seeing the many materials that Haru often used in her costumes.

Realizing that he was getting scared of a fake bird and feeling a little silly with himself, Tsuna decided that he wasn't going to bother with wondering why there was even a fake bird here in the first place and turned away.

"Still…that was pretty realistic. Whoever made it must have put a lot of hard work into it. How neat."

Walking away, he never noticed when the rest of the bird emerged from the leaves. Just below the pigeon's breast was the pale face of a young boy with large black eyes. Curly sideburns graced each side of his chubby cheeks and grey feathery straps met under his chin, held together by snap buttons. The boy peered curiously after the brunet and hopped his way out of the foliage and onto the top of the nearby fence. Then he proceeded to follow the man who continued on his way at a leisurely pace, pigeon hat bobbing along with each small step he took.

* * *

Tsuna was feeling a little anxious. His intuition was acting up again, tingling in a way that meant that someone was intently watching him but without any ill intent. He shrugged it off. People tended to stare at him more often after his Dying Will mode was finished. They'd stop soon enough once they realized that he wasn't suddenly going to hurtle himself off café rooftops or climb telephone poles shouting out neighborhood announcements or watch alerts at the top of his lungs.

It wasn't like people would mess with him though. No one who had lived through that time three years ago would dare to. In fact, most of his neighbors were generally friendly and tried to keep him happy and not have any reason to ever, _ever_ move out of Namimori. The sheer devastation his friends had managed to wreck in less than half a day back then-even if no one could prove it was them, everyone knew exactly who was responsible-was still talked about in hushed whispers even to this day.

_I love you guys. All of you. I really do._ _But…_

"Sometimes you tend to go overboard. You're brilliant. The best at what you do and the best at doing what you love. You're living life to the fullest…even if it inconveniences everyone else. But because of it, almost no one gets you and at times you can be just too much." Tsuna mused aloud. "Still, you wouldn't be you if you weren't your usual quirky troublesome self."

Smiling a smile so wide that it reached his ears, Tsuna sighed and closed his eyes as he clasped his hands together and stretched them high above his head.

"Maa…not like I can really complain about being quirky or troublesome myself though." He chuckled softly. "I hope you never change."

At least there were benefits to having a reputation for being crazy. No one paid attention to him whenever he would start muttering or talking to himself in public. Even if he wasn't running around in his boxers as often as he used to, people would just watch him pass by shaking their heads and continue on their way. Most parents didn't even bother covering their children's eyes anymore.

Lowering his arms, Tsuna opened his eyes and came face to face with a pigeon. The same fake pigeon from earlier. Caramel brown eyes locked onto shiny black glass. Peering at him from between the pink flowers and foliage of someone's rhododendron bush behind a concrete fence was the bird's gray feathery head, iridescent green shimmering on the sides of its neck.

Tsuna took a step to the left and the pigeon moved as if it was actually following his movements. Instead of cocking its head like a normal bird though, the entire body shifted. Whoever made it must have put some sophisticated equipment as the bird even looked like it was breathing. There was that same niggling feeling of being watched again.

Tsuna turned and walked away. The toddler followed.

* * *

"Spanner? Shouichi? Are you testing a new spy bot? It's not bad, but maybe if you can find a way to make the head move by itself? That bobbing movement is fine, but I think most birds stay in one spot and turn their heads to look at things."

The pigeon was peeking out from behind a telephone pole now.

Tsuna continued on, making sure not to look back. The sounds of soft scuffing behind him were so quiet that he would believe that he was imagining them if he didn't still have the feeling of being watched.

* * *

"Wings. They need to be able to stretch and flutter. Maybe beat at something if they feel scared."

Tsuna was now sitting at a bench in a park. The pigeon under his seat. He could see bits of its grey feathery back from between the wooden slats.

"The beak and toes need to be sharp enough to peck and scratch too. Don't they tend to go for the eyes?"

He tilted his head backwards staring up into the sky.

"Oh god. I'm giving advice on how to make a fake bird more dangerous. If you blind someone with this thing and blame it on me, I swear I won't make you those strawberry tarts that you like so much anymore."

Sighing lightly, he continued.

"I know birds are quiet and all, but you might want to add in some sort of sound. Maybe cooing. Pigeons coo right? And single pigeons are a little suspicious. You'll need a flock or at least a couple more…and maybe some sort of alarm cry. You never know when it'll be useful to stir up a real flock as a distraction so that yours can get away. The breathing is a nice touch though, but I think a real bird has faster breast movements."

After twenty peaceful minutes, he got up and continued on his way. His intuition trusted that the pigeon would follow and he trusted his intuition.

* * *

They were making a loop around the park and Tsuna continued on slowly walking as he talked.

"Pigeons are hungry and can be a bit greedy too. If someone tosses a piece of bread to them, they're going to try to get it. You might want to make one that can eat and swallow. Maybe even empty that food as fake poop. Like a secondary repellent technique. People try to avoid bird poo…actually people usually try to avoid poo in general."

They were getting closer to the more populated side and Tsuna could see a few joggers in the distance.

"Oh! And one more thing. If you're going to make your bird seem like it's flying, make sure to beat the wings hard enough to create some sort of sound. It's much more realistic than that hopping that you're doing right…"

And just as Tsuna passed by the large bush squished between two trees, his arms shot out to capture the shadowy leaping figure.

"-Now!"

Tsuna blinked in surprise. The toddler in his hands blinked back.

"Eh?"

High above, the sun shone on the pair and the pigeon's glassy black eyes unblinkingly stared down.

* * *

The pair had made a complete circle of the park and were now sitting back at the same bench, ice cream cones in hand. Black sesame, vanilla, and red bean for the toddler and orange and cream swirl for the brunet.

"I can't believe that you conned me into getting you three scoops."

"Not my fault. You were so impatient that you ordered before I could pick."

"There was a line. Other people want ice cream too you know. The ice cream man was shooting us dirty looks and those people behind us were about to complain."

"No. He was shooting you, the crazy guy who sat on the sidewalk and talked to a bush for twenty minutes, dirty looks. I'm just an innocent child that happens to be wearing an awesome hat."

"You were in that bush. I was talking to you and I'd call your hat crazy, but I've seen stranger. "

"That's not what those joggers thought. They even turned around just to avoid you and you can still call it crazy. Crazy awesome. Which you aren't. You're just crazy."

Tsuna snorted. "Well too bad for you, I already have a reputation for being crazy."

"I can see why. The fumes from all that hair spray you used must have gotten to you."

"Hey! This is entirely natural! Nothing will actually work on it. I tried to use an entire bottle of hair wax once, and it still wouldn't stay down."

The pigeon hat quivered as the small child began to giggle. Tsuna's pouty mock offended glare making him laugh even harder as they continued to eat, easy going banter flowing back and forth as if they had known each other for years.

* * *

"Just curious, but how old are you?"

"Ten."

"Liar."

"How do you know that? I'm really ten. I'm just short for my age."

"Intuition and _I'm_ short for my age. You've still got a ways to grow even if you talk like an adult."

"True enough and fine. I'm not ten. I'm really eight."

"Home schooled?"

"Of course. Why else would I be out here at this time of day?"

"Maybe because you felt like skipping? And you're still lying."

The tiny thighs on either side of his neck had tensed for a brief moment. The toddler, now sitting on his shoulders, was actually pretty good. He lied effortlessly and with a straight face, playing off his feelings with obvious skill, but he had a ways to go before he could even hope to match up to Mukuro's level, much less Tsuna's own intuition.

"Intuition again?"

"Yeah. But you tensed up when I said skipping. Work on that a bit and try again."

"…heh. Teaching innocent youths on how to lie better. You're a horrible role model."

"Please. You're hardly that innocent and you're the one who keeps following me even after we've already established that I'm crazy. What does that make you?"

"I'm curious. Kids are curious you know. It's natural. I've met crazy people before and I want to know what kind of crazy person are you. There're lots of different categories you know."

"Ah ha! That wasn't a complete lie! Now we're getting somewhere."

"How do you know that?"

"Intuition."

"That's what you say for everything."

"Because it's true. I can believe in it because I believe in myself and I've got friends and family who believe in me too. Don't you?"

"_Trust in yourself and trust your family…" A large warm handed descended from above and gently ruffled his spiky black hair._

"Hey! I can't see!"

The boy uncovered Tsuna's eyes just in time for him to see the tree that he walked into.

The pigeon hat bobbed and quivered as child continued to giggle while the man rubbed his nose with a sigh and stepped around it to continue his walk.

"I'm four."

"Was it that hard to say in the first place?"

"How do you know I'm not lying now?"

"Intuition."

"Then how old are you?"

"Twenty-five."

"Wow. You look like you're in middle school though. I'm going to need lots of calcium if I want to make sure that I don't turn out to be as short as you."

"Now you're just being mean. I'll have you know that I grew at least an entire foot since middle school."

"I've been mean to you all day and you're just realizing that now? In addition to being a midget, you must be really slow too."

"Nu-uh. I'm crazy remember? When you see things differently or don't think or act like other people they'll call you crazy, but it's not so bad. I can get away with a lot of things that most people can't even if they'd like to. My friends are like family and they're crazy too. But we love it. We love being us. We love our life and no label like being crazy is going to change that…and you're who you are too. Just because everyone else might put down your hat and make fun of you for it doesn't mean that you should stop wearing it. It's not like its offensive or hurting anybody…well, unless they have a phobia of birds."

For a few moments, tiny boy was at a loss for words. How had he known? How had this man known even though their conversations had veered close, but never actually touched on that subject.

"Who said anything about anybody making fun of my hat?"

The hands clutched at the wayward tufts of brown hair painfully, but Tsuna ignored it.

"Intuition."

"Your intuition's annoying."

"Mmmm. Useful though. Want to get some lunch now? We can eat it at my house."

"My brother said I'm not allowed to go into people's houses without a family member."

"Then we'll sit outside. I've got a patio set with a big umbrella in the back yard. Or we can eat on the swing set."

"You have a swing set?"

"Yep. I can move a small table between the seats and we can put the plates and drinks there. Anything you want to eat?"

"Takoyaki! I never had it before, but I saw it on TV and then I found this flyer. They're having a special this month."

There was the sound of crinkling and shifting fabric and Tsuna was handed a folded, still warm piece of paper.

"Have you been carrying this under your hat all day?"

"No. Just for the last five hours."

Tsuna decided not to bother questioning it. Lambo used to stick everything in his afro and it usually fell on Tsuna to help him wash out the mess. At least the paper wasn't sticky with questionable substances.

"Takara's Takoyaki? I know this place. It's a small family run business, but they make some of the best takoyaki in Namimori. We're only about fifteen minutes away from it too. Seven if I run."

The toddler bounced on his shoulders in glee.

"What are you waiting for? Go! Go! Go!"

"Alright. Alright. I'm going. I'm going. Hold on tight."

Tsuna took off once he was sure that his little passenger wouldn't fall off, his smile unseen. The lonely little boy atop his shoulders was starting to finally act his age.

* * *

All throughout the town, they could both see people staring at them.

"Look, Sawada's got a pigeon on his head."

"He's crazy remember? At least he's still got his clothes on this time."

Tsuna paid for the food and walked out, ignoring the whispers that trailed behind him.

All the way home, the toddler wrapped his arms around Tsuna's head and buried his hands into the wild mess the brunet called his hair, snuggling his face into it as well. It was so very soft and made him think of bunnies. The older man smelled nice too. Like fruity sweets and yeasty bread and good coffee. It reminded him of mornings at home in Italy with his brothers. He missed Italy, but maybe being in Japan wouldn't be so bad after all.

* * *

True to his word, Tsuna and the toddler had lunch on a swing set and the small boy finally took off his hat, setting it carefully onto an unoccupied seat. With a shake of his head, the flattened hair fluffed up and curly sideburns sprung free. Tsuna just raised a brow and grinned at him, but didn't say a word.

With the takoyaki finished, Tsuna brought out a tray of bite sized fruit filled muffins while watching the way the toddler's eyes continued to stare into his living room.

"You like books?"

"Mmm." He was standing on the edge of the steps with a longing look on his face. Tiny feet pressed to the edge of the doorway, without actually crossing over.

"What do you like to read about?"

"Everything. I like insects and seeing how things are made and magic and gu-where are you going?"

"Give me a minute. I know it's here somewhere." Tsuna pulled out a particularly large hardcover book that was nearly as tall as the small boy standing at his doorstep.

"Can you read English?"

"Yeah."

"Then how about this one?"

The Illustrated World Encyclopedia Of Butterflies And Moths: A Natural History And Identification Guide

Seeing how delighted the little boy was, Tsuna couldn't help but smile.

* * *

"How come you aren't surprised by how smart I am? Does it bother you at all?"

"No. Should it? I was surprised a little at first, but one of my best friends is a genius. He could have probably gone to college when he was still in elementary school, but he refused to skip any grades. In fact, he stayed with me in every class every year-even when he was assigned to a different one-until we graduated from high school."

"So he's a stalker."

Tsuna spluttered. "He's not a stalker. He's just…enthusiastic and he doesn't follow me around as often as he used to…okay, he did have some stalker-ish tendencies in the beginning, but he managed to tone it down over the years. Ah! But don't tell him I said that."

"When I find out who it is, I'll be sure to."

"Ah! Meanie! You're so mean!"

And the boy giggled from his place on Tsuna's lap, large glossy pictures of beautiful butterflies spread out before them.

* * *

It was warm and comfortable, and the toddler didn't want to move, but someone was shaking him gently.

"It's about time for most schools in this area to finish. Don't you have to get back? Is there someone picking you up?"

That's right. Sawada Tsunayoshi. Crazy-Tsuna. The man who had played with him all day and took care of him and talked to him instead of talking down to him and didn't even mind that a four year old had run away from school. They were reading the book on the trampoline and everything had been so nice and peaceful that he had fallen asleep.

"What-" He yawned widely as he rubbed a large black eye sleepily. "-time is it?"

"A quarter after three." Suddenly remembering that one of his brothers should be arriving home about now, the toddler sat up and realized he must have been laying on Tsuna for some time. There was a slightly damp patch of drool on his shirt, but the man either didn't notice or had chosen to ignore it.

He looked to the side and found the book had been closed, but Tsuna had placed a flowery bookmark in it.

"You're welcome to come back anytime and finish it." He looked up at the brunet who was now handing him a paper bag.

"I packed some more muffins for you to take with you. You can share them with your family."

"My hat." Tsuna handed over the pigeon hat and the toddler flipped it over to reveal a concealed zipper on the underside. He pulled out a small draw string backpack and slipped the paper bag into it. Then he shouldered it and rezipped and buckled his hat back on.

"Where are you going?"

"Home. Guess what."

"What?"

"I'm your new neighbor!"

"What?!"

Gleefully laughing, the boy dashed across the grassy lawn and shimmied and hopped his way up the various bushes and objects that lined the farthest fenced edge of his backyard. Perched on the top of a shrub, he paused and called back.

"Hey! Crazy-Tsuna! I know what kind of crazy you are now!"

"Huh?"

"You're crazy awesome!"

With a grin, the boy hopped over the fence and disappeared, leaving behind a gaping Tsuna. Suddenly, the pigeon head popped back up.

"Oh and by the way, my name's Renacido. Renacido Maggiore. Or as you Japanese would say, Maggiore Renacido. But you can just call me Ren. Ciao."

Then the bird disappeared and small footsteps faded away.

"Maggiore…that's Italian for greatest and Renacido…Renacido. Isn't that Spanish for…reborn? Greatest Reborn?"

His thoughts flashed back to the one-time tenant of his old home over ten years ago. A man who had become an older brother figure to him during his short stay in Nana's house. Dino Cavallone…and all the stories he had told about his sadistic tutor Reborn.

Reborn, who was also a major character in his Flames of Resolution series. Reborn, the cursed baby with wild black hair, curly sideburns, a shape-shifting chameleon named Leon, and an impeccable black suit and fedora who happened to have a penchant for dressing up in outlandish costumes.

Tsuna wanted to bang his head on the wall.

Coincidence. It's got to all be a coincidence. Sure Reborn was a strange name, but people named their kids strange things all the time. Especially in America and Reborn was an English word.

He tried to ignore the fact that he had been spending the entire day with a little kid that may or may not possibly be related to the actual person who the most popular character he had ever created was based off of.

* * *

"You were supposed to be at preschool."

"You didn't even come to get me."

"Because I knew that you'd be at home. So what'd you do today?"

"I met one of our neighbors."

"Oh?" The second youngest child in the house looked down at his younger brother.

"Who?"

"Sawada Tsunayoshi."

"The guy in the house that has all those people coming and going all the time? The one that's directly behind our yard?"

"Yeah. Crazy-Tsuna. I like him."

The older brother stopped and stared down at the toddler. For any of them to actually like someone, that could only mean…

"Really? Is he that much fun to mess with?"

Renacido grinned.

"Today, I followed him and he gave me advice on how to make my Rock Pigeon hat more realistic. Then I bit him and kicked him in the shin and he spent twenty minutes making himself look crazy by talk to a bush in the park. After that, he bought me ice cream and carried me around all day even though I kept making him walk into things. And he got me takoyaki for free and then we ate muffins and read a book on butterflies and moths together and then we took a nap on his trampoline and he gave me some more muffins to take home and, and…can you make me another hat? I need to be able to peck someone's eyes out with the beak and some sound effects and movable wings too. The head needs to be able to tilt independently and I need eyelids and eyes where the pupils can change and-"

"Slow down. That's not a hat. That's a hi-tech pigeon shaped robot. You'll hurt your neck with all that weight. And how long are you planning to skip school?" He hadn't seen his little brother this animated in...actually, he didn't think he had ever seen his brother so lively before.

"I'm not skipping. I'm cutting class. There's a difference. There's nothing interesting there anyways."

"True. We know that you're way above them. You're a Maggiore after all, but you know why you need to go."

Ren pouted.

"Fine. I'll stick around for a few more minutes, maybe long enough for the roll call, but to make it up to me, you're coming with me to Crazy-Tsuna's house tomorrow."

"What?" Ren received an odd, almost disbelieving look from his brother.

"Crazy-Tsuna's got lots of books. I can see shelves filled with them. But Reborn says I'm not allowed to go to people's houses without one of you…unless, I'm making a secret house call when the residents aren't home and he's gonna be home."

"We can go to the library as soon as I get a card."

"But he has better ones. He's got a butterfly encyclopedia. In English. With full color." It was as close to a whine as any of their family had ever heard. Ren may have only been four, but he still had his pride, his cunning, and most importantly, intricate knowledge of his siblings' weaknesses.

"He makes good food. These muffins come from his ovens."

"You really want to go that much?"

"He's got a swinging bench."

"We can get one."

"He's got a swing set."

"We can get that too."

"He's got a big hammock under his tree."

"You already sleep in one."

"He's got two attached ladders on the outside of his house that go up to his roof, a small reinforced platform overlooking the back yard and the biggest most heavy duty custom-made trampoline that I've ever seen complete with padding around the edges."

"…" The elder was too busy chewing on a blueberry muffin to answer.

"And he said that he'll be home alone all day tomorrow and that we're free to come over whenever we feel like it."

"Will there be more muffins?"

"Maybe."

"When are we leaving?"

Ren grinned and Réincarné, or Rein as his brothers called him, wondered just what kind of person had managed to win over his prickly little brother.

* * *

**Tsuna has successfully won the heart of Toddler!Reborn. One down, three to go! Apparently, Rein isn't worried that his tiny four year old brother has run away from preschool and pretty much hung out with a reputed nutjob all day long.**

**Dame-Tsuna never stuck on him here. Instead, he's now remembered as Streaker-Tsuna and sometimes Crazy-Sawada. I'm having fun writing Tsuna's DW escapades even if the reason why he has a DW/HDW mode at all isn't such a funny reason.**

**The constant references to the big incident three years will continue on until I get to Hibari's story arc which is about his meeting with Tsuna and the consequent omake/interlude chapter/TWEWY crossover that comes from it. Sadly it's a good many chapters away.**

**Takoyaki-Octopus balls. Fried batter balls usually filled with minced octopus, tempura scraps, pickled ginger, and green onion, coated with takoyaki sauce and sprinkled with bonito flakes and seaweed.**

**The Illustrated World Encyclopedia Of Butterflies And Moths: A Natural History And Identification Guide is a real book by Sally Morgan. I don't own it.**

**Obligatory Warning: Please do not attempt to jump onto a trampoline from a rooftop. I am not responsible for any injuries/deaths that may occur from your own stupidity.**

**Next time: More Reborns! But the sadly, the eldest (and the one that eventually gets Tsuna) still doesn't get to have much screen time yet.**


End file.
